


What the hell am I doing?

by denyingmyselfalways



Series: How Tony Stark accidentally became a dad [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Answer: lots of late nights and exasperated friends, FRIDAY literally does everything for Tony, Gen, I wanted to explain how Tony got Peter a suit that quickly, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony breaking and entering mwahahaha, fanboy!peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 13:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14671728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denyingmyselfalways/pseuds/denyingmyselfalways
Summary: While looking for recruits, Tony spots a possible candidate that Queens calls the Spider. He feels for the kid and decides to give him a 'minor upgrade'orHow Tony had Peter's suit immediately after meeting him for the first time





	What the hell am I doing?

**Three months before Civil War takes place.**

Tony was constantly looking for possible Avengers recruits. He wanted to get to them before anyone else did, in case they turned evil and whatnot. It was during one of these particular sessions that he first witnessed the Spider.

Searching the internet. Keyword: Superhero. Social media was surprisingly helpful as it had in-the-moment pictures and videos that were rarely caught on security footage.

It was a dumb Instagram live that he’d been watching for a few minutes that was recording a car chase happening in Queens, New York. He was getting bored, ready to X out of it when a police car careened sideways and slammed into the side of a building.

Or... almost did.

At the last second, a red blur swung in between the car’s destructive path and the building.

Tony lurched forward slightly, but the person in the makeshift suit _caught the police car_ , set it down, shot something out of their hand, and swung away after the car that the police had originally been chasing.

It took thirty seconds for the shock to wear off before he scrolled down to the comments.

_The Spider_ , they read. _The Spider-guy, Spider-dude, the Spider-ling, Spider-boy._

Spider. Spider. Spider.

“FRIDAY?”

“Yes, boss?”

“Do a web search for heroes in Queens. Keyword: Spider.”

“Already on it.”

1.35476843 seconds later, all ten of his monitors lit up, each with different videos, pictures, gifs, fanart, everything dating from two months ago until now.

Tony studied the way the hero flipped and cartwheeled and landed with their limbs everywhere but somehow made it graceful. Almost like a dance.

Tony frowned. No grown man could do acrobatics like that... not even Cap was that flexible. However, the shape of their figure was obviously masculine, so they would have to be a younger guy. Maybe even still in high school.

_What am I doing?_ Tony asked himself as he told FRIDAY to save all of it to his ‘Recruitments’ folder.

 

_What the hell am I doing?_ Tony asked himself as he told FRIDAY to pull up Peter Parker’s medical file.

He’d figured out the Spider’s identity after an extensive amount of research, twenty different security footages, a stroke of genius, and FRIDAY’s commons sense. After that, it was almost laughably easy to hack into the doctor’s office that Peter went to yearly and come up with his measurements.

After twelve sleepless nights from a span of two-and-a-half weeks, Tony had the shell of the Spider’s new suit built. He had no idea why he’d singled out the kid. There were plenty of options for heroes who needed upgrades, but something about him made Tony want to _do_ something. Something to help.

So, he’d started creating a new suit. He didn’t really know what it would hold, considering he didn’t know the kid’s complete list of powers even after studying him for weeks, but he knew he needed to start building it before actually recruiting him... if that’s what he was going to do. Tony still wasn’t sure.

He’d managed to extract some of the webbing the Spider used from the side of a building and analyzed its components before it dissolved on his lab table.

Tony also gathered from the few interviews the Spider had been in with the locals, that the webbing wasn’t organic, but the kid had actually _created it himself_ , and when Tony had learned that he felt oddly proud. There was one problem, however. Now he needed to build it into the suit and he had no idea how the kids ‘web-shooters’ worked.

He tapped his screen and entered the final string of code before sighing. “Fri, close file.”

His monitors went blank and he stood, stretching. He’d done all he could with the research that he had, but he knew it wasn’t enough. He’d either have to talk to Peter in person or find some other way to get to know his powers more. He didn’t like the prospect of having to talk to Peter. Why jack up someone else’s life when he didn’t have to right?

He trudged up the stairs to the living room where Clint and Sam were playing Mario Kart. They ignored his deep sigh as he went to make himself his fourth coffee of the day. Maybe he could just… sneak into Parker’s apartment? It would be considered breaking and entering, but he was Tony Stark. He could handle it. He just needed to find a safety pin.

 

The next day Tony found himself walking up to the Parkers’ apartment complex.

_What the hell am I doing?_

He still didn’t quite have the answer to that one.

Up two floors at the end of the hallway. Knock once. Two times. A third just in case.

Nothing.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief, pulled a safety pin from his shirt and in thirty seconds _click_. The door was open. If he had learned anything from his rebellious teenage years it was how to pick a lock. He bypassed the kitchen, going immediately to the open door at the end of the hallway.

_Oh yeah,_ he thought as he stepped inside. _This is definitely Peter’s room._

Small twin bed, a tiny desk with its top covered in old computer parts, posters covering the walls and an embarrassing number of Legos littering the floor.

He set to work, careful to avoid the Lego pieces, searching through the drawers, the closet, under the bed, in the desk... _there!_

Ten cartridges of... something sitting in the back of his bottom drawer. He pulled one out, hoping desperately that the kid wouldn’t miss it and returned to searching. Surely Peter hadn’t taken his suit to school, had he?

Then he looked up and grinned. Jackpot.

Reaching up with a coat hanger he’d found on the floor, he eased open the trapdoor in the ceiling, and out fell the Spider costume. Dangling on a string.

He quickly pulled it down and searched it for key components. The essentials. There were tinted swim goggles glued to the eyes of a red ski mask, so perhaps the kid had enhanced vision. He checked the gloves and analyzed the web shooters. Peter had created the cartridges to fit inside the shooter when Tony pressed the button where the palm would be...

_Ffttt!_

It was almost too easy. Simple, yet efficient. Tony respected that. Nothing else seemed of much interest until Tony spotted the emblem in the center of the hoodie. Stitched on it looked like. A spider.

He grinned. Yes, he would use that.

He took pictures of the entire suit, especially the googles and shooters before putting it back in its place, walking out, and locking the door behind him.

He had a long day of tinkering ahead.

 

“Still working on that suit?”

Tony looked up from his work. The stress melted off his features. “Hey Pepper, what are you doing down here?”

“Just checking up on you,” she said, walking over to his workbench, “So?”

“Hmm? Oh. Yeah, I’ve almost finished the web combinations. When I’m just about to finish, I think of another one. Sometimes it’s so annoying being a genius.”

Pepper scoffed. “Whatever you say,” she pressed a kiss to his forehead, before recoiling. “Ew. You’re sweaty. Go take a shower and give yourself a break. You’ve been down here for hours.”

“Have I?” Tony murmured, not really hearing.

She laughed. “Okay, stay down here, but I’m making sure FRIDAY kicks you out after curfew, got it?”

Tony wrinkled his nose, “What am I, five?”

“Sometimes I wonder,” Pepper replied, the clicking of her heels fading as she let herself out.

 

“What are you doing? Making a whole new AI for him?”

Tony just kept working without answering.

“Wait, are you?”

Nothing.

“Tony, come on. He doesn’t need an AI.”

Tony looked up to see a slightly disheveled Rhodey, making his way through the junk to his workbench. “It would be very inconvenient for him if he didn’t have one.”

“You can’t just give out AI’s to random kids.”

“Don’t worry, I put training wheels on it.” Tony snapped. “That’s what I’ll call it!”

He could practically hear Rhodey’s eye-roll behind him. “Why are you even doing this? You don’t know him.”

Tony sighed, looking around at his messy lab. _What the hell_ am _I doing?_ “I don’t know. I just... I’m bored, and I got attached to this particular recruit. So, I’m building him an upgrade. It’s not like he doesn’t need it.”

“Can I see the suit?”

Tony pulled it out from under his table. He’d finished the physical suit and webbing two weeks ago. He’d only had to make one change so far when he’d learned about the boy’s ability to climb walls and had to thin the fabric in the gloves and shoes. Other than that, all he had to do was finish the programming.

Rhodey whistled. “I’m surprised. This doesn’t really seem like your style.”

Tony smirked, “I can’t have two Iron Men running around. It would tarnish my reputation.”

He went back to his computer, adding protocols and safety locks.

“I’m almost done, anyway. No more late nights until I find another project. I promise.”

Rhodey laughed. “Yeah, and you’re going to be on another project in like two days.”

Tony didn’t reply. He’d blocked out the universe, and nothing short of the end of the world would pull him out of it.

His best friend sighed, knowing smile tugging at his lips. “Whatever, Tony, just get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, okay?”

“Hmm, oh yeah.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes and walked out.

 

When Cap ran off with his friend, Tony knew a fight was coming. He also knew that Cap had allies.

So, Tony needed some allies as well.

When Natasha mentioned a possibility, Tony’s mind immediately jumped to the Spider.

The suit was finished, he’d completed it two weeks ago, but had had no reason to give it to the kid yet.

“Where’s yours?” Tony asked.

“Downstairs,” Natasha replied, face crinkling in unfamiliar confusion. “Where’s yours?”

Tony just smirked.

Forty-five minutes later, he found himself sitting on a couch that had been patched up too many times, talking to Peter’s surprisingly hot aunt. She was going on about how she’d had no idea Peter had applied for his internship and that he didn’t tell her anything anymore and that she was going to have to talk to him once he got back and-

The door opened.

Peter walked in, back to them, saying something to his aunt, but Tony was too busy studying him.

He’d known intellectually who the Spider was before, but now he _knew_. There was just something about the kid that screamed: hero.

Then Peter saw him and started fanboying without trying to be obvious about it and Tony wondered what the _hell_ he was doing.

 


End file.
